Sharing Retrenchment Data with IRAS to Enable Automatic Income Tax Deferment for Retrenched Employees

Mr Ong Hua Han asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance given the mandatory requirement under the Employment Act for employers with at least 10 employees who have retrenched any employee to submit Mandatory Retrenchment Notification to the Ministry of Manpower, whether such data can be shared with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore to consider automatically granting income tax deferment for the retrenched employees.

Mr Chee Hong Tat (for the Prime Minister): Taxpayers who face difficulties in paying their taxes due to unexpected or extenuating circumstances, such as retrenchment, can apply to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) for extended instalment plans beyond the standard 12 months interest-free instalment plan for payments via GIRO. This can be done via an e-service on IRAS' myTax Portal. Alternatively, taxpayers can also reach out to IRAS via email or phone.

As every individual's financial situation is unique and not all taxpayers who have been retrenched need an extended tax instalment plan, it is not automatically granted to all taxpayers who have been retrenched. For example, some may have secured another job shortly after retrenchment.

Upon receiving a Mandatory Retrenchment Notification submission from an employer, the Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation, led by Workforce Singapore, will reach out to retrenched workers via their employers to provide an information kit containing links to different types of support that these workers may find useful, such as employment facilitation services as well as the SupportGoWhere webpage where they may submit a request to IRAS for extended instalment plans.